Saturday, March 01, 2014

Since President Obama was elected, the nature of the Republican party has been changing. Some would say the change is not for the better. Like Dr. Jekyll of the 1931 novella, the GOP is taking on more of a Mr. Hyde persona. This change is occurring more and more frequently in many of our Republican leaders as we see Republican governors of many states with their "Mr. Hyde" showing.

Take for example scandals or questionable activities involving current or former Republican governors McDonnell, Christie, Walker, McCrory, Corker, Scott, Snyder, and LaPaige.

We also see some Republican led state congressmen acting in unison to create legislation that causes voting restrictions while some go as far as to pass legislation that allows business to discriminate against certain classes of citizens. Governors and legislators in many Republican run states have refused to allow medical care to the poorest people by denying medicaid expansion.

Now perhaps these actions were always part of the GOP psyche or policies, but for many governors, it is the first time the public is seeing this side of their character. Now it seems clear that these apparently repressed behaviors in Republican politicians can no longer be hidden. The dam of GOP malevolence is bursting.

One of the most malevolent actions that has ever been proposed by a Republican governor has

Many Georgia hospitals located in the poorer parts of the state have been forced to close their doors because of financial losses. Much of these losses come from lack of revenue by uninsured people who cannot afford to pay for their health care. Governor Deal has a solution.

Governor Deal still refuses to extend medicaid to the poorest in his state. That is not his solution. He fails to realize that rejecting medicaid expansion is a big part of the problem for Georgia hospitals. In fact, if he expanded medicaid, the root cause of the problem, uninsured poor people who cannot pay for hospital services, would be resolved. Instead governor Deal wants to repeal the 1986 law signed by Republican President Reagan called the "Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act."

This law is designed to prevent uninsured people from being turned away by hospital emergency rooms when they have an emergency medical condition that requires immediate treatment they cannot afford to pay for. Prior to 1986, hospitals had the right to refuse patients if they could not afford to pay for medical care or if they did not have insurance. The Reagan GOP had empathy for people in such dire need of care and readily realized that the law was necessary. But not Governor Deal. His "Mr. Hyde" is gaining more control over his personality.

By calling for a repeal of the law, governor Deal is effectively asking to eliminate poor people from health services altogether. He's made sure that they can't get health insurance from expanded medicaid in his state and now he wants to eliminate them from any hospital care at all. "Heartless" is a kind word to explain governor Deal's thinking.

When a person has no empathy for others, we usually think that they have a psychological problem. Depending on the degree, this lack of empathy can range from narcissistic personality disorder to psychopathic personality disorder. More and more, I am seeing these disorders appearing within GOP leadership. Perhaps you may agree.

As a voter, I would like to know that the choices I have in politicians, present me with psychologically healthy people. I believe we are beginning to see that the GOP does not offer this kind of choice.

Perhaps we can make psychological testing a mandatory requirement in order to allow a politician to run for office.